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Onondaga County retirees moved to managed care plan today; union has questions about coverage

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Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney applauds county employees during her State of the County address last year. Mahoney said county government retirees would be moved to a managed care plan; that starts today.
(Mike Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com)

Onondaga County government retirees who qualify for Medicare are being moved to a new managed care plan effective today, but one union representative said the senior citizens may pay more for less.

"It's a lesser plan in most people's opinion," said Kathy Zabinski, president of the CSEA local that represents active employees. "We have some questions, too, and we're waiting for some answers."

Zabinski said retirees covered by the plan have told her they will have more expensive co-pays and may have to pay more for coverage. She said her union has asked County Executive Joanie Mahoney's office a number of questions about the new coverage, but have not had a response.

Mahoney's spokesman, Ben Dublin, did not return phone calls to The Post-Standard seeking information about the switchover from the OnPoint insurance program to the MVP plan. In an e-mail, he said:

"The county executive announced in her 2013 State of the County that
we were switching eligible retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan, which will offer comparable benefits at significant savings to taxpayers," Dublin wrote. "For 2014 we project the savings to be $2.8 million."

Zabinski said her union does not represent county government retirees. The president of the local that does, Charlotte Adkins, could not be reached for comment.

In a letter sent June 5, Mahoney told retirees that "the MVP Gold Anywhere Plan is a comprehensive benefit plan that parallels the present benefit levels in the OnPoint program."

The letter also said there would be no increase in premiums for retirees in 2013, and that any future increases for premiums "will be the same as those set for OnPoint."

Are you one of the Onondaga County government retirees moved to the MVP care plan? If so, let us know what you think of the switch.